


Annex A

by sketchypotato



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, contains spoilers for the clockwork heart ofc, i have no idea how to tag this actually, liek if you crei everytiem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23740216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sketchypotato/pseuds/sketchypotato
Summary: 20 years past. The legislation stays the same.Luke travels out of town to start a new life.A happier epilogue to The Clockwork Heartbeat
Relationships: Citron/Minagi Tsuzuru, Luke/S
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	Annex A

**Author's Note:**

> This is in-universe for the Clockwork Heart, so its not really Citron or Tsuzuru at all, but uhhh i'm not rlly sure how else to tag it ? Ahaha I just want Luke and S to meet again and move into a remote village to live a peaceful farming life with no fear bcos I cry everytime i think of the play, thank you for your attention

"I wish you the best, Sir," says Colt, as he loads the last of Luke's goods onto the carriage.

"You too, Colt. Take good care of your family." Luke gives him a pat on the shoulder, and Colt smiles back warmly. He's truly grown, becoming a successful mechanic and even getting married, though to Luke it feels like it was just yesterday when he joined as a fresh-faced apprentice.

And as for Luke?

Luke starts up the engine. He doesn't have much to bring with him except for his tools, and a few supplies to get started. The house has already been bought, and he has made sure that the raw materials he needs will be readily available. It's in a quiet, far off village, far from the main city that he is currently in, far from the government's legislation.

Luke fingers the key around his neck, and drives off.

* * *

The Great Inventor is known for many things, but friendliness is not one of them. Following the disappearance of his master, Boyd, more and more people came to ask of his skills instead, to which he built many, many machines to solve the citizen's problems. As the complexity of his machines increased, so did his reputation, and it is said that he had even received requests from the city's government to build infrastructure. The rumours continue to say, however, that he always declined.

The news of his sudden retirement came as a shock to everybody, especially since he was still so young, but by the time any journalist could get to his lab it had already been cleared out. Though not as much a recluse as he was in his younger days, Luke did not have many friends, interacting with his clients in a civil manner but nothing more. The only one who seemed aware of what had happened was his ex-apprentice Colt, who mentioned that his leaving had actually been planned for a long time. He refused to reveal where Luke went.

* * *

He reaches the village after a few days. Receiving the keys from the landlord, he picks out a room in the house, and starts rebuilding his lab, only leaving it periodically to get food. Curious villagers pass by the house, eager to know more about this mysterious new visitor, a few even inviting him out for lunch, but Luke ignores them. It takes about a month or so for him to finish, after which he immediately starts on his project, the whole reason he is here. 

Luke slumps down on the bench in his lab, taking a moment to wipe the sweat off his brow. In his other hand holds a key. He’s not as young and energetic as he used to be; he’s waited so long for this moment, maybe too long, studying and improving his craft to make the best machinery possible no matter what resources are available. One might say that it is ridiculous to hold to such a dream, a delusion, some might even say, for so many years, but if he succeeds, it will all be worth it.

Or so he hopes. Luke takes a deep breath.

He slides the key into the clockwork heart, and turns.

The gears in the mechanical body start to turn with what feels like excruciating slowness. One by one, they start to move, until finally, finally, S opens his eyes. 

“Master.”  
“S!” shouts Luke. He jumps up, immediately enveloping him in a hug. All those years of hoping the law will change, of studying mechanical improvements, of looking to the key for comfort when times are difficult, all of those for this one moment. To be reunited with his friend.

“You’re back.” He exhales, fighting back tears. “Welcome back, S.”

“....Are you my master?”

That’s not right. Luke takes a step back, studying S’s face. S stares back blankly. 

“It’s me, Luke. You're… you’re my first friend.”

S merely blinks, and the evidence clicks.

Of course, it’s not like S’s memories are stored inside the key. If anything, they would be stored in his body. In reconstructing S, Luke had been forced to replace parts of the original body, due to rust or other malfunctions caused by time. He had kept his blueprints, his detailed notes about S’s construction, so he is confident that his mechanical body had been replicated perfectly. Although there were also a few improvements that he had worked in for efficiency, and materials were better now than 20 years ago, S should still be the same.

Right?

A different body, a different set of memories, could he still be considered the same? Having changed the original body, was Luke’s dream impossible from the start? Had all these years been for nothing?

S looks at his Master, unaware of his inner turmoil. Why is his Master turning away? What was he, S, made to do? His Master has an arm lifted, loosely holding on to S’s arm, and S has a small, nagging feeling that he should follow. He lifts up his own arm in kind, bent at the elbow. If anyone else had looked at S, they may even think it a shoddy attempt at offering a handshake.

Luke lifts his head. S is looking at him expectantly, or maybe Luke is just imagining the curiosity in his eyes. The same curiosity he saw years ago.

The past is the past, and it would be a miracle for S to regain those memories. But as for their friendship, it couldn’t hurt to try again.

Luke straightens up, taking S’s hands in his, and shakes it.

“This is a human greeting, S. I’m Luke, it’s nice to meet you.”

* * *

Teaching S how to be human is only slightly easier the second time round. There is no Colt to help him this time, and Luke struggles with teaching him how to control his inhuman strength. It takes a while before he deems him ready to meet other humans, but Luke has waited so long, what’s another few more days? 

In the years after S was deactivated, Luke tried to go outside more often. He would take walks through the town, and even chat with townspeople if they called out to him from their stalls or nearby seats whenever he was in the bar. Still, a taste of friendship didn’t stop him from being painfully awkward with most human interaction, and there was only so much small talk he could take before wishing to go home. There always felt like there was something missing.

At least he tried. And now, for S’s sake, he could be a better friend. Luke introduces S to the other villagers as a distant relative who had arrived with Luke, but had been housebound and sickly for the first few months. It was a weak cover-up, and Luke could only hope that they forgot that he arrived in his carriage alone (he didn’t think anyone watched him move into the house, but he couldn’t be sure), but beyond a few skeptical looks no one questioned it. After all, in this rural village unused to high levels of technology, who would suspect S to be a mechanical doll?

Settling into his new life, Luke takes on the job as the village mechanic, fixing cooking utensils and farming tools, occasionally making toys for the children. Nothing too flashy, but enough to impress young minds. They may seem out of reach from the main city, but he still doesn’t want to attract too much attention. It’s nothing like the hustle and bustle of creating great inventions for the townspeople and receiving lots of money and recognition as a reward, but he prefers a simpler life now.

Sometimes when he goes out, S accompanies him, to help him carry food or mechanical supplies. Sometimes S asks to go out himself. With Luke’s teaching, and interaction with the other villagers, S has become more and more human-like over time. He would ask to run errands that Luke had forgotten, or bring up a heavy-lifting favor a neighbour had asked of him earlier. Sometimes he would simply take a walk at the edge of the village, and Luke would find him staring at flowers in a field. It seemed that the village children also liked to play with him, finding him immune to their screams and unhurt no matter how much they climbed all over him. Luke would often follow some distance away, making sure that S doesn’t cause an accident or become damaged.

It really is a sight for sore eyes, seeing S play with the children. Though his expressions are limited, he knows enough to listen to their instructions and go along with their games. Luke leans against a tree at the edge of the field, leisurely watching as the children run around S, screaming and laughing along as he picks them up with ease. He watches as they suddenly huddle together, then run back towards him, led by a child with a small bunch of flowers in his hands. He presents them to S, urging him to take them, and S brings the flowers to his face, examining them closely.

For the first time, S smiles.

Luke has had his doubts before, as to whether it was merely satisfying his own ego to see S as a friend. To be easily created and destroyed on a human’s whims, does that make him any less than a human? And yet as time goes on, S listens to Luke's instructions less and less, makes his own decisions more and more. He smiles, even laughs when someone makes a joke he can understand. He argues when Luke refuses to help a villager without pay (his sentences are short, but firm all the same). He makes coffee for Luke after a long day even when he hadn’t asked.

S feels more human than some people Luke knows.

* * *

To fall in love with a mechanical doll, your own creation, no less, sounds absurd. And yet, thinks Luke, it feels like a natural conclusion. After all those years of getting to know other people, he’s finally found that “something missing” when he’s with S. Something about how S always knows what to do to cheer him up, though Luke doesn’t remember that being part of his programming, something about the peace he feels when they’re together, not having to worry about saying the right thing to impress him, but simply being able to spend time in each other’s company, with a friend. Maybe he is delusional, from so many years of chasing their reunion, and maybe S doesn’t feel emotion after all, but his heart can’t help but skip a beat when S smiles back at him. 

How could a mechanical hand feel so warm? S doesn’t look back as he reacts, intertwining his fingers with Luke’s as they sit next to each other under the night sky. Luke is content like this, safe and at peace with the one he loves, even if it seems impossible to go further. It’s still more than he could have ever hoped for, back then.

“Luke….”

S had been watching the sky all night, silent, and Luke could only guess what he was thinking.

“I’m glad… that I was able to meet you again.”

S finally turns to Luke, who can only stare back, dumbfounded. 

“Again? Do you….. Do you remember? Back then?”

S puts a hand to his clockwork heart. "Over time, I've felt this feeling, here, that this something that I've experienced before. Learning, how to live. And sometimes, I see these images too, warm, comforting images. Images of a friend." 

Luke feels like he is holding his breath. Slowly, S’s mouth curves into a smile. A gentle, knowing smile, as S offers a handshake.

"It could only be you, right Luke?"

A miracle happens. A shooting star flies across the sky. Luke pulls S into a hug, and even though it was not part of his construction, tears seem to flow from S too. 

“I’m sorry it took so long, but I did say that we will meet again.”

“Welcome back, S.”

“Thank you, Luke.”

**Author's Note:**

> *narrator voice* Boyd was arrested for tax evasion
> 
> its 4am. citron come home. EDIT: he came home right after posting this I. I see. Good night
> 
> twitter @spacetier


End file.
